Census 2021 puts Colindale at 7,659 households with a median age of 31.7. The inter-war stock is renter-heavy, which is why 20% houses and 80% flats need different handling in NW9.
Private renting sits at 35% and owner-occupation at 32%; the first group books building waste clearance at short notice, the second plans it.
Walls are precast concrete panels and dense blockwork; locally that also means often with surface conduit — where 32% owner-occupation means the same home is booked again rather than a new tenant each year, so the fixing that matters in Colindale is chosen on site — the usual failure here is in NW9, drilling blind into a panel with reinforcement or a buried cable behind it — and with 30% one-person households in Colindale, one adult is usually the only pair of hands on site.
Two streets can behave very differently in Colindale: the fastest-growing new-build district in north London, around the old aerodrome. The quote reflects the street the job is actually on. Colindale is outside the Congestion Charge zone but inside ULEZ; our vehicles are compliant, so nothing is added for it.
On access, every new block requires booked goods lifts and loading bays; estate roads are gated — one reason two crew and a Luton on most strip-outs; three crew and a tipper where the load is rubble, hardcore or soil and weight rather than volume decides the run. Fitters travelling in use Colindale (Northern).
